Mr. Norwell
With ticket lines out the door prior to the show, the 2019 Mr. Norwell event was a major success. The auditorium was packed on March 13th as many members of the community came out to support the senior class.
This year, the show had 9 hilarious senior boys, including Jonathan Coco, Simon Barnum, Owen Baum, Derin Ergul, Erik Bethony, Declan Gore, Matt Lotterhand, Joe Nestor, and Peter Kirby. The boys were very dedicated to the entire process: going to multiple strenuous dance rehearsals, practicing and perfecting their acts at home, and finding time in their schedule to get fitted for their tuxes. Each contestant had an outgoing and positive personality, making it very easy to find clips for a bloopers video. Yet, there was still an obvious competitive edge present as the boys brought maximum amount of effort to every practice.
The show started out with a dance routine to a mashup of hit songs, such as Single Ladies by Beyonce and Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira. The boys appeared to be dressed in a conservative manner with long robes as they walked on the stage; however, once the music started, they showed off their real outfits, consisting of jean shorts (“jorts”) and cut off flannels. With a bunch of laughs from the very beginning, the moves that were the crowd favorites were flossing, shooting, and gas pedal.
Next came the introduction of the hosts, judges, and contestants. Dallis Kehoe and Mary Kate Scalzulli lead the audience through the show, and Dillon Connolly, Rachel Espiricueta, Alexis Magee, and Olivia Croke were the judges for the night. Each boy, looking sharp in his rented Men’s Wearhouse tuxedo, was then announced along with his escort. There was a mixed group of escorts this year, ranging from nieces to fathers and cardboard cutouts to a Pringles cans.
The show then continued with the individual acts. Owen Baum opened it up with a lip-sync performance of a skit from the 40s. He was then followed by Jonathan Coco, who dressed up as Bob Ross and ate an infamous Carolina Reaper pepper. After Coco was dragged off the stage by fellow contestant Simon Barnum, Erik Bethony came on and wowed the audience with his drumming skills. Joe Nestor then came on to impress the crowd with his talent of making milkshakes while also dancing and lip syncing to Milkshake by Kelis. Then came one of the most memorable acts of the night: a performance of Country Roads by Declan Gore. The entire crowd was engaged during Declan’s serenade, waving flashlights through the air as he strutted through the aisles of the auditorium. Derin Ergul brought the laughs back with his makeup tutorial using Nutella, jelly, and mayonnaise. The crowd was then taught some karate moves by Master Shifu’s apprentice, Simon Barnum. Peter Kirby showed his artistic creativity with an indescribable play he wrote himself. The act portion was wrapped up by no other than Matt Lotterhand. Father Slaughterhand brought energy to the crowd through his preaching and performance of a compilation of “gospel” tunes. Classmates sang and clapped along as he sang Hey Ya! By Outkast.
The final portion of the show was the live interviews. Each contestant was asked a question, similar to “if you were a crayon, what color would you be?” Once the questionnaire was over, the bloopers reel was played while the judges had to make a big decision: who are the top 3 contestants. Joe Nestor, Declan Gore, and Matt Lotterhand claimed these spots. With technical difficulties preventing the voting to be done through Kahoot, the hosts decided to base it off of crowd cheer. From that, the answer was clear as Lotterhand had the loudest fan base out of the 3. In the end, he took home the crown and two free prom tickets.
